Working out faith and life with fear and trembling.

Broken Heart of a Missionary

Genesis 26:17-22
So Isaac departed from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there. And Isaac dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, which the Philistines had stopped after the death of Abraham. And he gave them the names that his father had given them. But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of spring water, the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him. Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that also, so he called its name Sitnah. And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth, saying, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.”

Isaac was having a rough go of it here. Just before this he’d done the same stupid thing his father, Abraham, had. Abimelech sends him away. Every place they go, they dig a well, then the philistines come and take it from them. Folks, they didn’t have machinery back then. They couldn’t just hire someone with an auger and drill down. They had to dig those wells by hand. Now, I’ve never dug a well. I have dug a lot of post holes and perk holes and would rather not experience digging a well by hand.

It must have been exceedingly frustrating to have to keep moving, constantly praying that this time you’d be able to stop and settle down. Keep in mind there is also a famine going on in the land. Not easy at all.

Our time here in Westwood has seemed much like this. We arrived and began digging a well. For a time things seemed to go well, people responded, our numbers grew…then it all vanished. We rebuilt, gathered more…then Dyer closed, the economy tanked and again we lost almost everyone. Again we began digging and while there have been trickles of water here and there, no great well. We are tired and thirsty, begging God for a place where can be fruitful in the land.